PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — It is a memorial service more than 60 years in the making.
It took decades for the U.S. government to find and identify a Korean War hero, a veteran who is also Pflugerville resident, Sam Storms' father.
Now, the Storms family is inviting the public to join them in celebrating Major Harvey Storms, whose remains were returned to the U.S. a couple of months ago.
KVUE visited 78-year-old Storms at his Pflugerville home to learn more about his father.
"This is the 30th of October from Pusan, which is on the east coast of Korea," Sam said, reading letters his father wrote.
The letters are from another time.
Major Storms asked about Sam Storms and his brothers when they were children.
"Are they behaving any better? The little rascals. I'd love to squeeze and hug and spank them," Sam read aloud.
Major Storms wrote the letters during his service in Korea. It wasn't his first time overseas; he was also a soldier in World War II.
In late 1950, the letters stopped. Sam still remembers two men delivering the news to his South Texas home.
"They presented my mother with a telegram notifying her that officially my daddy was missing in action," he said.
For the next couple of years, there were no answers.
"But she kept hoping everyday," he said.
That was until in 1953. Major Storms was declared killed in action.
"I have a hard time talking about it," Sam said.
But there was still no body.
Sam's mother died in 1961 from cancer without seeing her husband laid to rest. Years passed without any word.
Then, in 2018, North Korea shipped 55 boxes of remains to Hawaii to identify what was believed to be dozens of American and Chinese soldiers.
"I credit President Trump. He maybe wasn't smart enough to not go over there and say we want our remains back, how about it, and ask for them," Sam said.
In August, Sam got the call he'd been waiting for nearly his whole life. He and his brothers gave mouth swabs of DNA for comparison a few months back.
"I picked up the phone and down on the other end, 'We found your daddy.' 'You're kidding.' 'No, he's been identified,'" Sam explained.
Now, Sam and his family are planning a celebration of life for his father.
"He's been lost and he's found," Sam said, teary. "Welcome home, Daddy. Welcome home," Sam said.
The memorial service for Major Storms is Saturday, Nov. 2, at the First Baptist Church. The address is 306 S. 10th St., Pflugerville, TX 78660.
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